I will admit. In terms of name recognition, I went to a pretty famous college – Springfield College. Springfield College (Massachusetts) is famous for a lot of things sports related, namely the Birthplace of Basketball. The National Basketball Hall of Fame is located in Springfield, Massachusetts because of the SC connection. Springfield College is well regarded, at least in the Eastern portion of the United States, as a premier school for its physical education, sports management, and athletic training and development programs. Springfield College has produced countless Major League sports athletic trainers, general managers, field coaches, head coaches, national sportswriters, and one slightly less important baseball writer – yours truly has a degree in Exercise Science from Springfield College (1994).

Here is something else I would be willing to debate with anyone – Notre Dame University has the top name recognition amongst any school anywhere in the United States of America. With the exception of (maybe) Harvard, Yale, Duke – but those are a stretch. When people say the school’s name, often times the following term or terms follows – “The Fighting Irish” or simply “The Irish” and “excellence.” Notre Dame University is associated with excellence, in the classroom, on the playing field, post graduate work. It is an elite university academically and certainly athletically. And because they are the Irish, well that is just icing on the cake for me being of Irish descent.

So I was out in the Chicago area again this week for business (ArcBest) and had some personal time to explore some local baseball experiences. And with my sights set on visiting Notre Dame for some time now, I took the opportunity and the drive east on Tuesday afternoon from my hotel in Schererville, Indiana to the City of South Bend, Indiana. I had done some research on parking and visitors passes and had pinpointed the Eck Visitors Center as my GPS destination. After traveling through the farms and corn fields of Indiana for about 80 miles or so, and crossing over from Central to Eastern Standard Time, I arrived just before the sun was setting at the Notre Dame bookstore parking lot and Eck Visitors Center.

After speaking with a bookstore rep and obtaining a campus map and securing that my parking spot was not in a towable situation, I headed out on foot to visit Frank Eck Stadium, home of the Notre Dame University Fighting Irish Baseball Team. Along the way, I passed some absolutely breathtaking campus architecture – buildings, statues, massive community lawns, gardens, tributes. I think if I had more time, or I was staying closer to South Bend, I may have signed up for one of ND’s Visitor Tours. But Tuesday, I was focused on getting across the quad area, passed the famous football stadium, and to the other side of the parking lot from the Legends Bar and parking area to my intended destination – the baseball field at Frank Eck Stadium.

Honestly, there was a ton of amazing and famous Notre Dame buildings and statues to see and I sort of felt guilty not stopping at each and every one. But, time was not on my side, as the sun was setting pretty quickly at around the 5:00pm mark. I took a few photos of the ticket booth area of Frank Eck Stadium and learned that the field was named “Jake Kline Field.” Jake Kline was the ND Baseball coach for some 40 plus years (1934-1975) and is the program’s winningest coach. I wasn’t expecting any gates to be open but was super excited when I walked towards the first base line and saw a gate wide open for me. Maybe it was the luck of the Irish, maybe it was just open. I’ll say it was the luck of this Irishman because I had a chance to tour the field, the bleachers and get a glimpse of how special Jake Kline Field is.

As you can see from the shadows of the above photo, I didn’t have a ton of time to explore, nor did I have a desire to be locked into the stadium should an attendant come and lock the gate I entered. So, I hustled around the stadium, snapping photos of familiar views. All in all just taking in the beauty and wonder of Jake Kline Field and the Fighting Irish Baseball experience. It really was an incredible sight to see in person.

So some quick facts on the ND Baseball Team. Notre Dame baseball plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference or ACC of the NCAA’s Division 1. This is a slight deviation from their football team, which operates as an independent in the NCAA’s Division 1, so ND is not associated with any particular conference. The ND Fighting Irish’s Jake Kline Field has a capacity of about 2500 people. As I stated earlier, it is part of a massive athletic complex of stadiums and fields located in South Bend, Indiana. A quick list of famous ND Baseball players includes:

• Jeff Samardzija, who also played on the ND Football Team
• Davis Johnson from Moses Brown High School in Rhode Island
• Brad Lidge, WS closer for the Houston Astros
• And most notably for me, the great Carl Yastrzemski

Here is a QR Code with the current Fall 2025 roster:

And a quick video I took in the right field stands of the field, just before departing:

The hype lived up to and exceeded my expectations the moment I walked onto the campus of Notre Dame University. The buildings, the quad area, the bookstore, the stadiums, the fields, the tributes, the aura of greatness and excellence – they all surpassed what I imagined would be an incredible experience. I was so psyched that I found parking and could walk a short distance to the baseball field to take in some of the Notre Dame campus experience. The football stadium, the baseball stadium, the athletic complexes were just so impressive top to bottom. I was over the top thrilled that there was a gate open for me to take a small look inside Frank Eck Stadium and view the amazing Jake Kline Baseball Field. I did hustle because my parking spot time was limited, the sun was setting so my photo opportunities were limited, and I still had about a 2 hour or so ride back to my hotel. However, I did my very best to just be in the moment, be in the Irish moment, and wow did I have a few moments there at Notre Dame. Overall, it was an incredibly memorable afternoon visit and South Bend experience to the historic Notre Dame University and its Jake Kline Baseball Field at Frank Eck Stadium.

Go Irish!